MercoPress. South Atlantic News Agency

Falklands monitor MV Hondius hantavirus outbreak and clarify the route did not include the islands

The Falkland Islands Government announced that the KEMH “will review its policies for receiving unwell passengers off cruise ships, on a case-by-case basis”

The Falkland Islands Government issued an official statement on Tuesday confirming that it is closely monitoring the hantavirus outbreak aboard the polar cruise ship MV Hondius — a vessel that frequently operates in the archipelago's waters — and took the opportunity to correct information reported by some international media outlets suggesting that the ship had stopped at the islands on its current voyage from Ushuaia. The Falkland Islands Maritime Authority clarified that this information is incorrect and that the Hondius's most recent visit to the archipelago was in mid-February, weeks before the journey that triggered the current health crisis.

“The Falkland Islands Government would like to reassure the public that they are aware of and monitoring the outbreak of hantavirus aboard the cruise ship MV Hondius — a well-known friend to Falklands waters — and wish to extend their sympathies to both the passengers and crew,” the islands' government said in its official communiqué. The statement outlined the general characteristics of the virus, typically transmitted by rodents through droppings and urine, and noted that its incubation period can extend up to eight weeks, a relevant detail for the ongoing epidemiological investigation.

Although the current voyage of the MV Hondius did not include a stop at the Falklands, its effects have nonetheless been felt across British South Atlantic territories. On Tuesday morning, the King Edward VII Memorial Hospital (KEMH) in the capital, Stanley, dispatched urgent pathology supplies to Ascension Island aboard the Airbridge — the military air link between the United Kingdom and the Falklands — to support the public health response of the Ascension and Saint Helena administrations. The latter was one of the locations where the outbreak's earliest cases manifested: the Dutch citizen who became the first fatality died aboard the vessel, and his body was transferred to Saint Helena on April 24, while his wife was evacuated to South Africa, where she died after arriving at Johannesburg airport.

The World Health Organization is coordinating the international health response in cooperation with the British Foreign, Commonwealth and Development Office (FCDO) and the Overseas Territories. The Falkland Islands Government announced that the KEMH “will review its policies for receiving unwell passengers off cruise ships, on a case-by-case basis,” a preventive measure in light of the growing flow of polar tourism that uses the archipelago as a transit point. The Falklands' ports receive dozens of expedition cruises annually, particularly during the southern season from October to March, on voyages bound for Antarctica or South Atlantic circuits.

Seven cases linked to the outbreak have been identified to date, including three deaths and a patient in critical condition. Spain on Tuesday authorised the Hondius to dock at the Canary Islands, where it is expected to arrive in three or four days for the disembarkation of the 147 passengers and crew on board, including 14 Spanish citizens. The WHO suspects that the initial infection may have occurred outside the ship during the South American journey of the first victims, and that subsequent person-to-person transmission may have taken place — an unusual route documented only in the so-called Andes virus.